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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Central Dauphin East MS administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
702
Middle
DISTRICT 747 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CENTRAL DAUPHIN SD·NCES 420540001744
Central Dauphin East Middle School
628 Rutherford Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17109 · (717) 545-4709 · Dauphin County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL702 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 21% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Pennsylvania public middle schools
Student : Teacher
12.5:1
56 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.4:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
94%
663 students
DISTRICT 87% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 266 | 38% |
| Grade 7 | 224 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 212 | 30% |
Student demographics
78%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · STATE 59% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
33.9%
PA avg 51.1% . -9.7pp since 2023
Math
15.4%
PA avg 43.0% . +0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 34 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are down about 10 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 33.9% | 15.4% |
| 2023-24 | 43.6% | 14.8% |
% Proficient or Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: PSSA + Keystone. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
27.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 27% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 37% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Pennsylvania's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Central Dauphin East Middle School
Central Dauphin East Middle School's state test result (27.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Dauphin East Middle School this school | 702 | 94.4% | 27.5% |
| Castor Gardens Middle School Philadelphia | 1,318 | 96.3% | 25.2% |
| Pittsburgh South Hills 6-8 Pittsburgh | 387 | 83.7% | 15.4% |
| Linglestown Middle School Harrisburg | 841 | 96.9% | 43.4% |
| Susquehanna Twp Middle School Harrisburg | 820 | 63.0% | 25.8% |
| Woodrow Wilson Middle School Erie | 769 | 96.1% | 18.0% |
Matched among Pennsylvania middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Central Dauphin East Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Dauphin County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.5% | #426 of 479 | #10 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.4% | #438 of 513 ▲ 3 | #10 of 14 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 33.9% | #428 of 513 ▼ 37 | #9 of 14 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 702 | #169 of 522 | #7 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.5:1 | #196 of 486 | #5 of 14 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.9% | #2 of 486 | #2 of 14 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 94.4% | #143 of 510 | #4 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.5% | #183 of 332 | #5 of 6 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
702
-90 (-11%) vs 2020
-18% since 1990-91, when it was 853
Student : Teacher
12.5:1
was 13.9:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 702 | 56.4 | 12.5:1 | 94% (663) |
| 2023-24 | 663 | 56.2 | 11.8:1 | 100% (663) |
| 2022-23 | 779 | 49.8 | 15.7:1 | 99% (773) |
| 2020-21 | 792 | 57 | 13.9:1 | 100% (792) |
| 2017-18 | 776 | 58.8 | 13.2:1 | 100% (776) |
| 2015-16 | 687 | 48 | 14.3:1 | 67% (461) |
| 2010-11 | 630 | 49 | 12.9:1 | 52% (327) |
| 2000-01 | 690 | 53 | 13.0:1 | 18% (125) |
| 1990-91 | 853 | 64 | 13.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Central Dauphin East Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (776 to 702); teachers down 4% (58.8 to 56.4).
About Central Dauphin East Middle School
Central Dauphin East Middle School is a medium-sized middle school in Pennsylvania, with an address in Harrisburg. Grades offered run from 6 through 8, with 702 students enrolled.
The district for Central Dauphin East Middle School is Central Dauphin SD, with 19 schools and 12,389 students.
Enrollment at Central Dauphin East Middle School is mixed, with Black students the largest group at 30%. It is also 22% Asian, 20% Hispanic, 19% White, and 9% multiracial. For comparison, the population of Dauphin County is roughly 17% Black. By the diversity index, Central Dauphin East Middle School comes in at 78%.
The school reported 56.4 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 12.5:1. Middle schools in Pennsylvania average about 13.2:1, a similar figure. Eligible students account for 94% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. That is 35 points above the 59% average for public schools in Dauphin County.
Measured against Pennsylvania public middle schools, Central Dauphin East Middle School receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Central Dauphin East Middle School scores 27.5% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 37.1%.
According to the American Community Survey, in Dauphin County, median household income is about $76,242, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 34% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 9%. Central Dauphin East Middle School is one of 75 public schools in Dauphin County, which together enroll about 72,718 students.
Of nearby public schools, Central Dauphin East SHS is the closest, at about 0.3 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The school's 27.5% average proficiency ranks 6th among 6 nearby schools.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
A comparison of 2020-21 and 2024-25 shows enrollment down 11%, from 792 to 702. The ratio of students to teachers went from 13.9:1 to 12.5:1 over the same years.
Posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Dauphin County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
289,593
Census ACS
Median income
$76,242
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
75
72,718 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Central Dauphin SD
- Central Dauphin SHSHigh · 1,966 students
- Central Dauphin East SHSHigh · 1,573 students
- Linglestown Middle SchoolMiddle · 841 students
- Central Dauphin Middle SchoolMiddle · 834 students
- North Side Elementary SchoolElementary · 722 students
- Paxtonia Elementary SchoolElementary · 682 students
Other schools in Harrisburg
- Commonwealth Charter Academy CSCombined · 29,320 students
- Reach Cyber CSCombined · 5,721 students
- Central Dauphin SHSHigh · 1,966 students
- Central Dauphin East SHSHigh · 1,573 students
- Harrisburg High SchoolHigh · 1,343 students
- Dauphin County Technical SchoolHigh · 1,187 students
Nearby schools
- Central Dauphin East SHS0.3 mi · 1,573
- Infinity CS0.5 mi · 256
- Phillips Elementary School0.5 mi · 393
- South Side Elementary School0.7 mi · 603
- Dauphin County Technical School1.0 mi · 1,187
- Central Dauphin Middle School1.0 mi · 834
Frequently asked questions
About Central Dauphin East Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Central Dauphin East Middle School?
Central Dauphin East Middle School enrolls approximately 702 students in grades 06-08.
Is Central Dauphin East Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Central Dauphin East Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Central Dauphin East Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Central Dauphin East Middle School is approximately 12.5:1 (56 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Central Dauphin East Middle School?
At Central Dauphin East Middle School, the student body is approximately 19% White, 20% Hispanic, 30% Black, 22% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Who oversees Central Dauphin East Middle School?
Central Dauphin East Middle School is overseen by Central Dauphin SD in Dauphin County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.